Congratulations to Steve Gross, Winner of Event #41: $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha (Six-Handed) ($488,817)

For many years, Steve Gross was better known by his online poker handle — "gboro780" — than by his actual name, his successes at the online tables earning him copious notice as he consistently ranked as one of the best players on the virtual felt. He'd added some live scores to those successes, too, over the years, but the one breakthrough win had eluded him. Until today, that is, as Gross has become the latest WSOP bracelet winner after topping a field of exactly 400 to win Event #41: $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha (Six-Handed).

Gross entered today's third and final day of play as the chip leader, although he'd relinquish that lead early on as the field was quickly whittled from 22 down to 12 within the first two hours of play. Roland Israelashvili (21st), Sorel Mizzi (16th), and Event #2: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em (Eight-Handed) winner Trevor Pope (13th) were among the fallen during the afternoon on Monday,

Down to two tables, play slowed as players dropped one-by-one, with Timo Pfutzenreuter ultimately grabbing the chip lead away from Lee Goldman and maintaining it as the reached the dinner break with seven left. Then on the first hand back from the break Yevgeniy Timoshenko was eliminated in seventh to bubble the final table, and just six remained with Pfutzenreuter still in front.

But by the time Nader Arfai (6th), Lee Goldman (5th), and Joseph Leung (4th) had been eliminated, Gross had pulled back into the top spot three-handed. That battle saw Salman Behbehani come back from a short stack to take the lead briefly, but then Gross took out Pfutzenreuter in third to take a chip advantage to heads-up play. Behbehani battled gamely against Gross for more than 40 hands, but could never grab the lead away, then down to a short stack lost his first all-in to finish runner-up.

Congratulations to Steve Gross for adding an impressive live achievement to his long list of online scores by winning his first WSOP gold bracelet and a $488,817 payday. Thanks as well for following our coverage of Event #41: $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha (Six-Handed) here at PokerNews.